a. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the regulation of remote ordering, authorization, access and control of services and service features of a terminal. More specifically, the present invention concerns the prevention of fraudulent ordering and activation of services for a terminal and the prevention of fraudulent access and control of service features of a terminal, for example, of features of a user's telephone service (e.g., call forwarding parameters) from a remote terminal (e.g., a telephone other than the user's telephone).
b. Related Art
Regional bell operating companies (or "RBOCs") and other telephone service providers (hereafter collectively referred to as "TELCOs") are continuously adding new services (e.g., caller ID, call waiting, caller identity delivery on call waiting, call forwarding, call forward variable, call forward busy line, call forward don't answer, etc.) in an effort to better serve their customers and to better utilize existing infrastructure.
At least one TELCO will now permit subscribed users to access and control certain features of certain of their services "remotely", i.e., from a terminal (e.g., a telephone or station set) other than the terminal (e.g., a telephone or station set) with which the services are associated. (This type of service will hereafter be referred to as "CallAbility Feature Access Service" or simply "CallAbility". "CallAbility" is a service mark of NYNEX.) A personal identification number (or "PIN") may be used to help verify that the caller is authorized to remotely access and control such service features.
For example, a CallAbility service subscriber can remotely (e.g., from any touch tone telephone or terminal) access and control certain call forwarding services of their subscribed telephone. Call forwarding services include, inter alia: (i) Call Forward Variable (or "CFV") service which allows a subscriber to redirect calls incoming to his or her telephone to a different line; (ii) Call Forwarding Busy Line (or "CFBL") service which allows a subscriber to automatically redirect incoming calls to a fixed directory number, such as to a voice mail or to another service provider (e.g., a message desk), when his or her telephone line is busy (e.g., if their telephone is off-hook); and (iii) Call Forwarding Don't Answer (or "CFDA") service which allows a subscriber to redirect incoming calls to a fixed directory number, such as to a voice mailbox or message desk, after a specified number of rings (e.g., 2 through 7) when their line is idle (e.g., on-hook). A CallAbility service subscriber can, from any touch tone telephone (i.e., a telephone capable of generating dual tone multi-frequency (or "DTMF") signals): (i) activate or deactivate their Call Forward Busy Line service; (ii) activate or deactivate their Call Forward Don't Answer service; (iii) reset the number of rings needed before the call is forwarded pursuant to their Call Forward Don't Answer service; (iv) activate or deactivate their Call Forward Variable service; and/or (v) change the forwarding number of their Call Forward Variable service. It is possible to permit a user to effect the above listed changes from a rotary telephone.
Many TELCO customers enjoy the ability to remotely (i.e., from any terminal or telephone) activate or deactivate their Call Forward Variable service and/or change the forwarding number of their Call Forward Variable service. Imagine, for example, that a TELCO customer will leave their office on a business trip during which they will stay at two (2) hotels in two (2) cities. Such a customer may, from their own telephone, before they leave, activate their Call Forward Variable service and input the telephone number of the hotel at the first city of their business trip. Thereafter, they can remotely alter the forwarding number of their Call Forward Variable service to forward calls to the telephone number of the hotel at the second city of their business trip. Unfortunately, however, fraud has made this enhanced CallAbility service less profitable for the TELCO at this time. If the growth of such fraud is not arrested, offering this enhanced CallAbility service may become impractical.
More specifically, when CallAbility service has been offered to permit the remote access and control of Call Forward Variable service features, a fraudulent scheme has been used to pre-subscribe an unsuspecting victim's telephone to CallAbility. A perpetrator calls, from any telephone, the business office of a TELCO and orders a feature, typically Call Forward Variable, on the victim's line. The perpetrator will then also order CallAbility service on the line. At this point, since the CallAbility service permits the remote access and control of Call Forward Variable service features, the perpetrator could then control the forwarding number of the Call Forwarding Variable service, and set the call forwarding number to a long distance destination. Thereafter, a local call to the victim's telephone would terminate at the long distance number and the victim would incur toll charges. Moreover, the perpetrator could activate and deactivate and change the forwarding number of the Call Forward Variable service to minimize the chances of detection by the victim. In such instances, the victim is unlikely to detect the fraudulent use until after they receive their telephone bill. Although operators at the business office of TELCO often ask for some form of identification (e.g., a drivers license number, a social security number, a number on the customers telephone bill, etc.), such identification is not always secure, not always asked for, and may be difficult to quickly verify.
Other fraudulent schemes may also be possible. Thus, if such fraud grows, TELCOs may consider limiting the capabilities of CallAbility to minimize fraud. However, subscribers still constantly desire more capabilities from their communications services provider. More generally, remote access and control of service features assigned to a terminal may need to be limited if fraud increases, even in instances where customers desire less limitations on their remote access and control.